local online advertising for dummies

Court CunninghamLearn to: • Plan and launch an effective local online advertising campaign • Set up a Web site that draws local traffic • Maximize your presence on top search engines Ins

Court Cunningham

Learn to:

• Plan and launch an effective local online advertising campaign

• Set up a Web site that draws local traffic

• Maximize your presence on top search engines

Inside — find out how to get a $100

Local Online Advertising

Making Everythi ng Easier!

™

Get a $100 advertising credit from Yodle!

Look inside for details on how your company can

get $100 in online advertising from Yodle!

Open the book and find:

engines to get more customers

local

online advertising world

and keep them coming back

becoming a spammer

to avoid them

Court Cunningham is CEO of Yodle, a leading local online advertising

company that works with thousands of businesses Before joining Yodle, he

$24.99 US / $29.99 CN / £17.99 UK

ISBN 978-0-470-49742-5

for videos, step-by-step examples,

how-to articles, or to shop!

Competition is tough! Get an

advantage with online advertising

aimed at local customers

The Internet has changed the way you attract customers

to a local business Now you need a killer Web site, strong

presence on search engines, and a vibrant social media

campaign along with your other ads to grab the attention

of consumers This book offers the advice of advertising

professionals who know how the online world can provide

big help for your business!

• Create a plan — discover where your customers hang out online,

set goals, and identify strategies for success

• The site’s the thing — learn how to create a customer-focused

Web site that’s search engine–friendly

• Getting them there — understand how to use search engine

marketing, banner ads, and social networks

• Turn clicks into customers — use blogs, online video, and online

coupons to engage visitors on your Web site

• Measure results — find out how to determine ROI, where your

leads come from, and how to see if your ads are working

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Local Online Advertising

FOR

by Court Cunningham and Stephanie Brown

Local Online Advertising

FOR

Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2010922570

ISBN: 978-0-470-49742-5

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Court Cunningham is the CEO of Yodle, a leading local online advertising

company that works with over 6,000 local businesses across America At Yodle, Court oversees all aspects of operations and strategy, including technology, product development, sales, and marketing Prior to joining Yodle, Court held the position of COO at Community Connect, a niche social networking company, where he lead consumer marketing, product management, and development efforts Before that, as SVP/GM of the Marketing Automation group at DoubleClick, he was instrumental in establishing DARTmail as the industry leading e-mail marketing solution Court received a BA in English from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School

For more information about Court and his company Yodle, go to www.yodle.com

Stephanie Brown has been evangelizing Internet marketing since 1994 In

fact, she specializes in helping clients use many of the tools and techniques contained in this book to grow their businesses Over the years, she has held management positions at marketing fi rms and Internet companies, where she has led teams in creating customer-focused online solutions for accounts big and small, local and national Today she is a partner at Word Communications, an integrated marketing fi rm in Albany, New York Her clients are a living laboratory for exploring the latest best practices — in e-mail, social media, search marketing, landing page design, Web analytics and optimization, and offl ine integration

Stephanie can be reached at sbrown3@nycap.rr.com or www

wordcommunications.com

Court Cunningham: I want to dedicate this book to all small business

owners, the hardest working people I know

Stephanie Brown: This book is dedicated to the people and the dogs I

ignored during the researching and writing of it (You know who you are.)

I also dedicate this book to my mother, Helga Olsson, and my stepmother, Ruth Brown, whose examples have always taught me to persevere

Authors’ Acknowledgments

Court Cunningham: A large number of people on the Yodle team played

signifi cant roles in creating this book — not the least of which was Cam Lay — who was instrumental in helping to organize the content of this book, leveraged his own marketing background to give us another set of eyes for each and every chapter, and arduously provided the fi rst round of edits

Additional content contributors from Yodle included Joseph Sievers, Michael Baker, Arpan Jhaveri, Milind Mehere, and the invaluable John Switzer Finally,

I want to thank the Yodle Marketing team members who provided further feedback including Kara Silverman, Herman Mallhi, Allyse Coughlin, and Alisa Adler — as well as our Senior Director of Marketing, Joel Laffer, who encouraged me to do this book in the fi rst place

Stephanie Brown: It would be a sin not to acknowledge the two people who

worked tirelessly (and occasionally feverishly) to bring the best out in this book: Editorial Assistant David Idema, whose wry humor makes this a fun read, and Yodle’s Cam Lay, whose steady support and gentle task-mastering got us through Eat your peas!

Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:

Acquisitions, Editorial

Project Editor: Jean Nelson

Executive Editor: Steven Hayes

Copy Editor: Jennifer Riggs

Technical Editor: Michelle Oxman

Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner

Media Development Project Manager:

Laura Moss-Hollister

Media Development Assistant Project

Manager: Jenny Swisher Media Development Associate Producers:

Josh Frank, Marilyn Hummel, Douglas Kuhn, and Shawn Patrick

Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham

Sr Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case

Cartoons: Rich Tennant

(www.the5thwave.com)

Composition Services

Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker Layout and Graphics: Christine Williams Proofreader: Susan Hobbs

Indexer: Potomac Indexing, LLC

Special Help Leah Cameron, Teresa Artman,

Becky Whitney

Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies

Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher

Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director Mary C Corder, Editorial Director

Publishing for Consumer Dummies

Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher Composition Services

Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services

Contents at a Glance

Introduction 1

Part I: Getting Started with Local Online Advertising 7

Chapter 1: Online: It’s Where Your Customers Are 9

Chapter 2: Engaging Your Advertising Arsenal 19

Chapter 3: Planning Your Online Advertising Campaign 43

Part II: Setting the Foundation for Local Online Advertising Success 59

Chapter 4: Building a Great Web Site: The Key to Online Advertising Success 61

Chapter 5: When You’ve Hooked Your Customers, Reel ’Em In! 87

Chapter 6: Analyzing Results for Long-Term Gains 109

Part III: Doing the Advertising Part of Local Online Advertising 129

Chapter 7: Demystifying Search Engine Marketing 131

Chapter 8: Getting Web Traffi c for Free: Practicing Search Engine Optimization 139

Chapter 9: The Nuts and Bolts of Search Engine Advertising 165

Chapter 10: Saying It with E-Mail 191

Chapter 11: Linking Up with Directories and Lead Aggregators 211

Chapter 12: Targeting Customers with Banner Ads, E-Newsletter Ads, and More 229

Chapter 13: Hanging Out on Social Networks 247

Chapter 14: Generating PR Buzz 267

Chapter 15: Using Offl ine Channels to Drive Online Traffi c 285

Part IV: Keeping Your Customers Coming Back 295

Chapter 16: Staying at the Top of Customers’ Minds 297

Chapter 17: Leveraging Customer Data: Reach Out and Touch ’Em 315

Part V: The Part of Tens 327

Chapter 18: Ten Local Online Marketing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) 329

Chapter 19: Ten Steps to an Effective Local Online Advertising Plan 333

Chapter 20: Ten Considerations When Choosing a Local Online Advertising Partner 339

Index 345

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Conventions Used in This Book 2

What You Don’t Have to Read 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

How This Book Is Organized 3

Part I: Getting Started with Local Online Advertising 3

Part II: Setting the Foundation for Local Online Advertising Success 3

Part III: Doing the Advertising Part of Local Online Advertising 4

Part IV: Keeping Your Customers Coming Back 4

Part V: The Part of Tens 4

Icons Used in This Book 4

Where to Go from Here 5

Part I: Getting Started with Local Online Advertising 7

Chapter 1: Online: It’s Where Your Customers Are 9

Understanding Online Consumer Trends 9

The Rise of the Search Engine 11

Google, the big kahuna of search engines 11

Customers use search engines to fi nd you 12

Local Search: The Latest Search Frontier 12

Big demand + Tiny supply = Pay dirt 14

Thinking local: It’s only natural 14

Methods You Can Use to Advertise Online and Their Benefi ts 16

Going beyond search engines 17

Targeting the right prospects 17

Turning clicks into new customers 18

Taking an active role in optimizing results 18

Chapter 2: Engaging Your Advertising Arsenal 19

Getting Your Business Found Where People Are Looking 20

Leveraging search engines for success 21

Getting found organically 23

Using local search listings 24

Running pay-per-click ads 25

Seeing how you look in Yellow 29

Getting listed on directories 31

Lead aggregators 33

Going viral with blogs 35

Using social networks 35

Using other free media vehicles 37

Going from Offl ine to Online: A Lesson in Cross-Pollination 38

Getting Seen with Banner Advertising 39

Moving Out with Mobile Advertising 39

Mixing and Matching Your Methods 41

Chapter 3: Planning Your Online Advertising Campaign 43

Making a Pact to Plan 44

Positioning Your Business for Success 45

Setting Your Goals and Expectations 46

Knowing what will happen 47

Setting reasonable expectations of success 48

Identifying Strategies for Success 49

Lead generation 49

Lead capture 50

Lead nurturing 51

Creating a Time and Action Plan 52

Establishing a Realistic Budget 55

Determining the right amount to spend 55

Determining your potential return on investment (ROI) 56

How the numbers all come together 57

Part II: Setting the Foundation for Local Online Advertising Success 59

Chapter 4: Building a Great Web Site: The Key to Online Advertising Success .61

Asking the Right Questions before Building Begins 62

Reviewing your Web site building options 65

Finding a template that best fi ts your Web site 66

Thinking it through 68

Finding a professional Web designer 69

Web provider directories 69

Understanding Your Site’s Role in Your Overall Strategy 69

Having a conversion strategy 71

Knowing what to measure and why 72

Creating a Framework for Success 73

Selecting, registering, and hosting a URL 73

Mapping out your information 75

Setting the Mood: The Right Look and Feel 83

Look and feel basics 83

Chapter 5: When You’ve Hooked Your Customers, Reel ’Em In! 87

Implementing Proven Landing Page Techniques 88

Defi ning landing page and home page 88

Using the power of landing pages 90

Understanding the elements of the landing page experience 90

Engaging Customers with Two-Way Communication 92

Understanding and implementing chat 92

Raising your conversion rate with chat 94

Letting the pros set up a chat feature 95

Using proper chat etiquette 95

Effectively Using Interactive Elements 97

Online coupons 97

Online video 99

Capturing Customer Information 103

Online forms 103

Virtual phone services 105

Closing the Deal 106

Chapter 6: Analyzing Results for Long-Term Gains 109

Using Cutting-Edge Reporting Tools 109

Web analytics in a nutshell 111

Where the magic of metrics comes in 112

Choosing a Web analytics provider 114

Understanding Key Metrics 116

Where are your customers coming from? 116

What content are visitors consuming? 118

Which offers are visitors clicking with? 120

What does it cost to get new customers? 122

What is your lead-to-sales ratio? 124

Optimizing for Improved Results 125

Split testing 126

Testing page elements 127

Part III: Doing the Advertising Part of Local Online Advertising 129

Chapter 7: Demystifying Search Engine Marketing .131

Understanding Organic and Paid Search 131

Organic search results 132

Paid search advertising 134

Understanding How Consumers Rate Search Results 135

Pairing Organic Search with Paid Search 137

Practicing Search Engine Optimization .139

Leveraging Local Search Listings for Easy Visibility 140

Your (nearly) top-dog status 141

Counting the reasons to hook up with local searches 142

How to go local 143

Looking at local listing providers 145

Understanding How Search Engines Organize Content 146

First, they crawl 147

Then, they index 147

Next, they rank 148

Making Your Site SEO Friendly 149

Selecting keywords 150

Adjusting site structure 153

Page optimization 156

Internal linking strategies 158

External linking strategies 159

Domain names and URLs 160

Looking at Rankings with the Proper Perspective 160

Getting Help Optimizing Your Web Site 161

Some DIY resources 161

Using an SEO professional: Some tips 162

Chapter 9: The Nuts and Bolts of Search Engine Advertising 165

Using a Proven Strategy for Small Business 166

Following a Step-by-Step Guide to Paid Search 167

Setting up an account 167

Developing a keyword portfolio 170

Organizing your account 175

Writing effective ad copy 178

Managing your bids 181

Tracking and refi ning results 183

Finding and Using Resources for DIY and Outsourcing 185

Independent consultants or agencies 186

Yellow Pages companies 187

Full-service local online advertising companies 188

Technology platforms 189

Chapter 10: Saying It with E-Mail 191

Building the All-Important Address List 191

Finding the value of your e-mail list 192

Creating the address list 193

Creating an Effective E-Mail Blast 197

Considering what customers see in their inboxes 198

Composing your message 200

Chapter 11: Linking Up with Directories and Lead Aggregators .211

What’s So Great about Directories and Lead Aggregators? 212

Seeing that Directories Aren’t Search Engines 212

Exposing the How and What of Directories 214

How directories get customer traffi c 214

How directories get listings 215

The sort of information directories usually publish 215

Inside the directories: What are your options? 215

Identifying the Best Directories 216

The not-really-all-that-diffi cult process of picking the right directory to list with 217

So are directories a good way to go? 218

Sharing Information with Your Chosen Directories 219

How’s your profi le? 219

Your profi le is a constant work in progress 220

Tapping into Community Sites: Craigslist and Then Some 221

A grapevine for the 21st Century 221

Some other local portals 224

Considering Lead Aggregators 224

Looking at the pros and cons 226

Deciding who needs to use an aggregator 227

Chapter 12: Targeting Customers with Banner Ads, E-Newsletter Ads, and More 229

Casting a Wider Net with Online Tools 229

Running Banner Ads 231

Leveraging the power of banner ads 232

Choosing a type and size for your banner ad 232

Picking the location, location, location 234

Making contact with the site to place your banner ad 234

Making your banner ad perform well 235

Pricing of banner ads 236

Paying to create a banner ad 237

Using E-Newsletter Advertising and Sponsorships 238

Choosing an e-newsletter for your ad 239

Tips for e-newsletter advertisers 239

E-newsletter sponsorships 240

Advertising with Online Classifi eds 241

Developing a classifi ed advertising plan 242

Creating a classifi ed ad with clout 244

Choosing the Right Venue for Your Ad 245

Testing Your Ads for Fun and Profi t 246

Chapter 13: Hanging Out on Social Networks 247

Joining In: The Social Networking Phenomenon 247

An excellent place for non-advertising advertising 248

What you get out of it 248

Wooing the search engines 249

Deciding what to share 250

Marketing tips and tricks for social networks 251

Putting Your Best Facebook Forward 252

Creating your profi le 253

Creating your company page 253

Joining and creating groups 254

Building relationships 255

Making MySpace Your Space 256

Taking advantage of MySpace strengths 256

Setting up your profi le 257

Getting LinkedIn 259

Establishing a LinkedIn account 259

Using LinkedIn tools and features 260

Exploring Some Other Networking Sites 261

Tweeting with Twitter 261

Sharing photos on Flickr 262

Sharing videos on YouTube 263

Using Social Media Specifi c to Your Business Segment 264

Chapter 14: Generating PR Buzz 267

Managing Your Reputation Online 268

Monitoring 268

Managing 270

Promoting 271

Building Credibility: Associations, Certifi cations, and More 272

Using Message Boards, Forums, and Other Places to Strut Your Stuff 275

Marketing on message boards takes patience 275

Having a goal for posting on message boards 276

Finding the right message board 276

Making the most of message boards 278

Hitting the Blogs 278

Using blogs for your business 279

Using blogs the right way 280

Making the Most of Online Press Releases 281

Comparing traditional and online press releases 282

Distributing online press releases 283

Chapter 15: Using Offl ine Channels to Drive Online Traffi c 285

Putting Your URL in All the Right Places 286

Tracking with landing pages 286

Using vanity URLs 288

Using Cross-Pollination for Search 290

Leveraging the Insights You Gain Online 291

Applying online lessons to offl ine marketing 291

Part IV: Keeping Your Customers Coming Back 295

Chapter 16: Staying at the Top of Customers’ Minds 297

Standing Out in the Crowd 298

Making Nurturing Second Nature 298

Knowing why customers run away 299

Building relationships = Building profi ts 299

Finding Cost-Effective Ways to Keep in Contact 300

Sending thank you messages 301

Exploiting e-newsletters 302

Conducting satisfaction surveys 304

Rewarding Customers for Their Business 307

Promotions that perform online 308

Reveling in referral e-mail programs 309

Capitalizing on contests and giveaways 311

Chapter 17: Leveraging Customer Data: Reach Out and Touch ’Em 315

Mining the Gold in Your Data 316

Giving Customers More of What They Want 317

Targeting with segmentation 318

Personalizing your targeted message 320

Instilling relevance and timeliness 322

Optimizing Your Outreach Tools and Techniques 323

Staying dynamic 323

Uncovering patterns and trends 324

Keeping a clean e-mail list 325

Part V: The Part of Tens 327

Chapter 18: Ten Local Online Marketing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) 329

Assuming Your Customers Behave Like You 329

Not Knowing Your Limits 330

Assuming Web Site Aesthetics Equals Web Site Success 330

Creating a Web Site That No One Visits 330

Making It Diffi cult for Potential Customers to Contact You 331

Caring Too Much about How Many People Visit Your Site 331

Having Google Tunnel Vision 331

Not Knowing whether Your Marketing Is Really Working 331

Not Getting Sales from Calls 332

Not Doing Any Loyalty/Retention Marketing 332

Online Advertising Plan 333

Committing to the Planning Process 333

Having Clear Goals in Mind 334

Knowing Your Audience 334

Understanding How Users Behave Online 335

Considering Your Investment of Time and Money 335

Building a Web Site Designed for Conversion 336

Taking Advantage of Local Search 337

Choosing Your Tactics Wisely 337

Tracking and Measuring Results 338

Optimizing Your Ads and Web Site 338

Chapter 20: Ten Considerations When Choosing a Local Online Advertising Partner 339

How Measurable Will Your Advertising Efforts Be? 339

Do You Care about the Metrics the Vendor Promises to Provide? 340

How Big Is Your Commitment to the Vendor? 340

What Industry Expertise Does the Vendor Have? 341

Is the Partner Interested in Your Web Site? 341

How Wide Is the Vendor’s Distribution? 342

Who Handles Your Account? 342

Are There Any Hidden Fees? 343

Are There Keyword Limitations? 343

What Credentials Does the Partner Have? 343

Index 345

Not long ago, the Internet came along and changed everything Or at

least it changed the way a lot of things get done, including how sumers look for and find local businesses

con-With the rise of the Internet as the primary way consumers connect with local businesses, a huge number of tools and techniques have emerged for local businesses to better capture those consumers and turn them into customers Not only do these businesses seem to have done so almost over-night, but the smartest companies and Web consultants have already tried them, refined them, and came up with new ones In other words, the Internet marketing tool kit is big, and getting a whole lot bigger every day

Understandably, this whole Internet phenomenon can seem pretty complex, even intimidating, to local business owners who’ve relied for years on tra-ditional advertising channels and methods In reality, all the Web does is greatly accelerate the speed that traditional marketing concepts can now be applied and responded to by eager customers and prospects

In Local Online Advertising For Dummies, we look at how local businesses can

put online marketing to profitable use We break down the subject into ageable, understandable chunks By reading this book, you’ll become com-fortable with the big picture of the online marketing process and with how each of its parts contributes to the whole Most important, you’ll be ready to put many of those elements to work for your own business — and to be hap-pily surprised by the results they bring you

man-About This Book

You don’t have to read this book from front to back Rather, think of it as a sort of library from which you can extract and examine only the pieces that interest you You’ll find that (for the most part) the discussions in each chapter — and in each section within each chapter — are self-contained

Of course, we wouldn’t mind at all if you did read everything in order Local online advertising is one of those subjects that has a natural build to it, so going with the logical flow isn’t a bad idea But, hey — it’s your book now, and you can read it however you want

purpose is to give you a basic introduction to local online advertising, from which you can then go on to more sophisticated sources, if necessary.

Conventions Used in This Book

We use a few conventions throughout this book to make things easier for you:

✓ We use italics for emphasis and to set off a particular term that we

What You Don’t Have to Read

Here and there throughout this book, you see sidebars — text boxes that are

separate from the regular content and feature a gray background Sidebars include information that’s related to the content in the chapter but is also independent of it The bottom line is that you don’t have to read them, and your understanding of the chapter’s subject matter won’t suffer if you don’t

Then again, if you do read them, you may discover something new We leave the choice up to you

Another thing you can safely skip without worrying about it is the occasional paragraphs with a Technical Stuff icon beside them Big surprise, this is stuff for tech-minded readers The geekier you are, the more likely you’ll value these pieces The geekier you aren’t, the less likely you’ll care And that’s just fine

Foolish Assumptions

In writing a book like this, it’s difficult to know how broad and deep each reader’s existing knowledge is We figure it’s pretty safe to assume that you know the rudiments of computer use and that you’ve had some experience with the Internet, which also means you’re probably familiar with search engines Beyond those givens, this book assumes that you’re more or less a

Of far greater importance, however, is our assumption that as the owner of a business, you’re nobody’s fool Sure, online marketing may be a new concept, but we’re sure you have the fundamentals of business down cold You know your market You know your products and services inside and out You know what kind of customers you sell to and what kinds of prospects you hope to turn into customers And you understand profit and loss, competition, and the importance of investing your assets wisely On all those scores, you’re an expert So we don’t define universal business terms you already know.

How This Book Is Organized

We organized the chapters in this book into five parts Each chapter is broken into sections, which are broken into sub-sections, and even into sub-sub-sections

We compiled this book that way so that you can, with very little effort, get as much (or as little) information you need at any particular moment Zip, zop, and you’re there If only the rest of life was so easy

The following sections briefly describe what the five parts in this book cover

Part I: Getting Started with Local Online Advertising

This part gives you an overall picture of local online advertising: Why it’s become such a major tool for local businesses to generate more new and repeat customers, the evolution of search engines as they relate to local busi-nesses, and the kind of pre-planning that the online space requires to be used successfully

Part II: Setting the Foundation for Local Online Advertising Success

Here you discover the importance of building a quality Web site for your business, including whether you should handle this task or get outside help

We also explore the concept of landing pages, the range of interactive tools available, and the factors that go into analyzing the results of your online marketing efforts

Part III: Doing the Advertising Part

of Local Online Advertising

This is really the nuts and bolts of the book We look, in some detail, at search engine advertising and the elements of a successful e-mail campaign

You also find out how to employ techniques, such as advertising in banner ads, directories, and sponsorships We also discuss the uses of social media (such as Facebook) and how public relations can help drive traffic to your Web site

Part IV: Keeping Your Customers Coming Back

Winning over prospects and turning them into paying customers is no easy task After you do it, how do you make them repeat customers? We answer that question by examining several ways to keep your business at the top of customers’ minds and to reward them for their loyalty We conclude with a

discussion of database marketing — that is, how to use the customer data you

collect to sharpen your online marketing campaigns

Part V: The Part of Tens

If you’ve read through other parts of the book before coming to the Part

of Tens, you’ll have been exposed to a lot of information In this part, we provide you with lists of ten do’s and don’ts This part makes for a handy resource that you can refer to quickly whenever the need arises

Icons Used in This Book

At times in the course of this book, we separate certain points to broaden your understanding of a particular subject by placing an icon next to that paragraph

Occasionally we give you a little hard-won, real-world insight into how to apply the tool or technique we’re discussing Consider each of these icons as

a sort of “If we were you, we’d ” piece of advice

This icon is a friendly reminder of a specific point that we want to make sure you keep in mind as you proceed in your reading.

Take heed of a Warning: This can prevent you from doing something that could get you into trouble (primarily, legal trouble)

For those who like to delve into every technical detail, Technical Stuff icons may be of interest For the rest, they’re eminently skippable

Where to Go from Here

You’re ready to use this book, and the Table of Contents or index is the best place to start Find the section or topic that interests you and jump right to that page Or just turn the page and start with Chapter 1 We leave the deci-sion up to you Either way, we hope you enjoy — and profit by — what you find in this book

Part I

Getting Started with Local Online Advertising

started, Chapter 1 provides an overview of the online marketing world as it currently exists, including things like search engine marketing, identifying your best prospective customers, planning how best to reach and motivate them, and the importance of measuring your results

Chapter 2 gets a bit more specific about the tools (and advertising venues) that the Web makes available to you

Chapter 3 talks about the importance of formulating an online advertising plan that makes sense for your business and then dives into choosing the kind of strategies that help you bring that plan to life

Get ready to cast off, full speed ahead — and get down to business (pun intended)

Online: It’s Where Your

Customer s Are

In This Chapter

▶ Getting a feel for today’s online marketplace

▶ Using search engines to drive prospects to your business

▶ Understanding local search trends

▶ Thinking tactically about available online tools

Back in the 1920s and ’30s, Willie Sutton robbed a lot of banks When

asked why, he responded, “Because that’s where the money is.” Sutton may have been a criminal, but it’s hard to argue with his logic Which brings

us to the 21st century, and you, your customers, and why you should tise your business online — because that’s where the customers are

adver-In this chapter, we give you some background on the online world and explain some of the general forces that fuel it In the succeeding chapters, we break down what you as a small business owner need to know about Internet marketing in general and about local online advertising in particular

Understanding Online Consumer Trends

More and more consumers spend more and more time online, and the bers of households that are online has steadily increased

num-But more important is how much consumers are online and how they’ve adopted Internet usage as part of their daily routine much faster than anyone could have predicted For instance:

nearly one-third of the total U.S population).

✓ Sixty-three percent of those folks access search sites every day

✓ Sixty-four percent of Americans use Internet search as the primary way

they search for local businesses

Given these numbers, the conclusion is fairly obvious: If someone is ing around the ’Net for local goods and services and your business isn’t represented there, that customer is going to click with someone else That customer could have been and should have been yours

search-With Internet transactions generating so much business, you probably assume that small business owners (and local businesses) all over America are already all over the ’Net But guess what? They’re not yet

The U.S Small Business Administration reports that of the 24 million small companies it keeps tabs on, only 44 percent are currently using Web pages to advertise their goods and services (And when you remove the top ten or so metropolitan markets, that percentage of current small-business Web advertis-ers drops like a rock.) Bottom line: A whole lot of room is left for a savvy small business owner like you to make your business’s presence felt on the Web

So what can explain this rather odd situation in which customers are hanging out someplace that small business advertisers aren’t? Undoubtedly, one huge reason is that to most people, the idea Internet marketing seems just too complicated Intimidating, even Best left to the experts, whoever they may

be We’re the first to admit that Internet marketing can be a pretty complex undertaking The ’Net has its own rules, its own customs and secrets, and above all, its own technology And the latter changes constantly

What does local really mean?

Oddly enough, defining local as in local

busi-ness isn’t all that easy For instance, that food franchise just down the road may be affiliated with a multi-national corporation, but

fast-at the same time, it’s a long-established part

of the town’s business community, so is it local

or not?

We’d say yes For our purposes, the definition

we use throughout this book is that a business

is local if

✓ It does the lion’s share of its business either

on its own premises or at a customer’s home, office, showroom, plant, and so on

✓ When it uses online tools and techniques, it

uses them to generate offline sales.

Some pretty obvious examples are contractors;

professional service providers such as tants, attorneys, architects (plus others that don’t

accoun-begin with an A); local retailers; and many more.

But, as with any big and complex subject, the secret to understanding the Internet — and finding out how to put it to work for your business — is a matter of breaking it into smaller, manageable, digestible chunks And sud-denly, Internet marketing isn’t all that complicated anymore.

The Rise of the Search Engine

Before any sane businesspeople go to the time, trouble, and expense of establishing a Web site for their companies, the logical question they ask is:

Just exactly who’s going to find it, and how will they get there?

The answer is largely the search engine Although search engine sounds very

mechanical, it’s actually just a pathway that customers can follow to find

your business’s Web site Essentially, the offline Yellow Pages is a search

engine So is the local newspaper’s Classifieds section As opposed to those resources, which help customers sift through a few dozen or so choices, Internet search engines nearly instantly navigate through the millions of busi-nesses that maintain Web sites

How search engines actually find and index Web sites is pretty complex, and

we save the technical details for Chapters 7 and 8 But here’s a hint: Search engines use things like spiders and crawlers (and maybe one or two things that go bump in the night)

Google, the big kahuna of search engines

Of the major search engines operating, Google (www.google.com) is by far the largest, with Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com), and Bing (www.bing.com) coming in second and third

We discuss these and other search engine providers in greater detail throughout this book All you really need to know right now is that Google didn’t grab its enormous share of the market just because it has a funny, catchy name Over the last decade or so, Google has been the biggest innova-tor in the search engine space, and today it continues to pretty much define the category by setting the standards and making the rules that the competi-tion then has to adopt in order to stay in the game Proving, once again, that it’s good to be the king

Customers use search engines to find you

Millions of companies throughout the United States, both large and small,

do at least some of their business on the Web A search engine is what keeps finding any one company from becoming a needle-in-a-haystack proposition

In fact, search engines make successfully finding any one of them pretty darned easy (Just ask your kids.)

The crucial bottom line is this: According to data for 2008 compiled by the Pew

Research Center, 85 percent of Web site visits (or hits) originated through one

search engine or another That’s how completely indispensable search engines are for any business that wants to have a profitable presence on the Internet

Local Search: The Latest Search Frontier

Perhaps you’re thinking, “I run a small, local business Search engines are for big companies that get business from all over I’ll never get found stuck somewhere in the middle of all those folks.”

Search engines are important to your business because the hottest area on

the Web is local search Local search is pretty much exactly what it sounds

like: local people looking for local goods and services Of course, local people have always been looking for local goods and services What’s changed is how they search That is, on the Web The defining characteristic of local search is that the people who use it have local intent

That probably sounds pretty broad, and it is Local search is broad because customers with local intent can use search engines in various ways to find what they’re after:

✓ They can search for, say, roofer — and because the more sophisticated

engines instantly identify the Internet Protocol (IP) address of the puter the searcher is using, some local roofer listings may well appear

com-on the results list

Google Maps is a leader in this technique, which you notice when you type a search term and a local map appears with a bunch of local busi-nesses listed beside it

✓ They can use geographical identifiers, such as dermatologists davenport IA,

and they’ll get (surprise) listings of dermatologists in Davenport, Iowa

✓ They can shorthand the process by typing the business descriptor

fol-lowed by a zip code, such as plumbers 46256 Local search still works.

the Next Big Thing — an enormous untapped market for their services, spread over the 15 million local businesses that operate across America So these search engines are very busy expanding their capability to render local-market search results and adding to the ways those businesses can quickly and efficiently get themselves listed — and found — online.

The result of all this has been what people with MBAs call a positive feedback loop (see Figure 1-1) People go on the Internet and look for local businesses

Early on, they find a few Then, local business owners and search engine programmers realize that local people are looking for local businesses on the ’Net So more and more businesses start putting themselves there, and search engines provide more local listings And so on, and so on

Another factor that’s driving local search is the increasing popularity of smart phones and PDAs that give you Internet access in the palm of your hand People tend to use these amazing gizmos a lot when they’re out and about, so it’s only natural that they use their phones to find the nearest res-taurant, antique store, or shoe repair shop With local search, you can easily

do just that

Figure 1-1:

The positive

feedback loop created

by local search

To better serve both consumers andlocal advertisers, search enginesimprove organization of local contentand add more local features

Local search postitivefeedback loop

Improved organization and amount oflocal content online leads consumers toincreasingly look for local servicesonline

Increase in local consumer searchesonline leads local businesses to seebig opportunity

Big demand + Tiny supply = Pay dirt

Before diving into local search, the Googles, Yahoo!s, and Bings of the world took a look at the sort of numbers that follow and drew the logical conclu-sion, that is, that small business is potentially huge business Consider the following:

✓ In 2008, 82 percent of consumers used search engines to find local

ser-vices (up from 74 percent in 2007) That translates to 1.3 billion local searches every month

✓ Sixty-four percent go to the Internet as their primary means of finding

a local merchant But only 26 percent of local small businesses have invested any time or effort in advertising online

✓ Americans consume 35 percent of their media (news, entertainment, and

so on) online, but only 7 percent of total national ad dollars are spent online

What we see here then is the tremendous opportunity gap that exists, though

it can hardly be counted on to stay like this forever That’s why thinking about and establishing your online presence now is a very good thing (And

of course, so was picking up this book.) In fact, a number of new search engine options have popped up to cater specifically to local businesses, which only expands the gap between the number of marketing venues and the number marketers who have so far taken the plunge

Take a site like www.hotels.com Yes, Hotels.com is a national site, but it depends on local hotel/motel/bed and breakfast/quaint, country-inn owners

to provide it with content, which it then showcases on its site Fandango (www.fandango.com) does roughly the same thing with local movie theaters across the country Per usual, a bunch of other dot coms use this very effec-tive business model

Thinking local: It’s only natural

People living in Toledo don’t look for a plumber in Cleveland They’re ing for a local plumber who can get there in a hurry to fix whatever’s leaking, clogged, or making funny noises

look-And what local-searching customers everywhere know — and that a whole lot

of small businesses don’t seem yet to fully grasp — is that the Internet is likely

to give them much more information about a local company than any other

resource Even a full-page ad in the local Yellow Pages or newspaper would

find it difficult to hold all the information about a local business that a Web

Further, ask yourself this: With traditional print advertising, how can you tell how many people have seen your ad, much less acted on it as a result?

Answer: You can’t But with a Web site (or for that matter, an online tising or e-mail campaign), you can find out exactly how many people have seen it and contacted you because of it That means you can quantify exactly how much you’re spending to get each customer who calls you — and can keep refining your site to make it even more efficient as often as you want (as opposed to a phonebook listing that sits unchangeably frozen for a year)

adver-A third of all search engine queries contain a zip code or a city or state name,

such as taxidermists 43112 or florists Spokane Perhaps more important,

how-ever, and regardless of whether a customer tacks on a zip code or a city or state name, 43 percent of search engine users are looking for a local business from whom to buy offline (that is, at the business’s physical location)

Lest you think that those numbers don’t necessarily add up to much at the end of the day, consider this: In one recent month alone, Google reported

11,345 searches (or as Web savvy folks like to say, impressions) for various

searches related to veterinarians in San Jose So either Northern California is

in the grip of a major hairball epidemic, or local people in general are ing for small businesses in a big, big way

search-Don’t let your competition take your customers

If your competition maintains a marketing ence online and you don’t, it probably means one of two things:

✓ You don’t know they’re online

✓ You know but don’t particularly care

If you don’t know whether they’re online, that’s easy to find out Use a search engine (just like their customers do — nudge, nudge) and see what your competitors are up to But if you do know you have competitors on the Internet but haven’t done anything about it, we’re going to

go out on a limb here and guess that that means one of two things:

✓ You think this whole Internet thing is just a passing fad

✓ You want to get into Web marketing, but don’t have the time or expertise

You can’t think the first one because if you’ve read anything in this chapter so far, you realize that the sheer volume of Web usage is stagger-ing So we’re up against the time and expertise obstacles As we mention in the Introduction, you can do a number of things on your own to create a Web presence that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg or require any particular com-puter expertise And as we also mention, many outside consultants and companies create Web sites and online advertising campaigns for busi-nesses large and small, and can do it not only expertly but at surprisingly little expense

ventional Yellow Pages But there is one important respect in which they are very similar: Customers use them at the moment of relevance For example, you don’t look through the Yellow Pages for lawn care companies until you

actually need a lawn care company The same goes for local online search

Simply put, the moment of relevance comes about when need meets fulfillment And at that critical, highly sales-message-receptive moment, a potential customer can use all the information about you she can get to make you her source or supplier of choice This is precisely the kind of persuasive, in-depth information that only a Web site can give

need-Methods You Can Use to Advertise

Online and Their Benefits

In this chapter, we take a look only at the proverbial tip of the advertising iceberg Even so, you probably already realize that success requires the use of a variety of tools and tactics used in combination

local-online-Here are a few of them:

✓ Pay-per-click (PPC) online advertising, which is a way to enhance

how your business appears in search engine listings and to give you an instantaneous read on your listing’s effectiveness

✓ Search engine optimization (SEO), which involves adjusting and

design-ing your Web site to make it more search engine friendly and increase your position in the organic section of the search engines

✓ Company landing pages — pages that people come to directly when

they do a search using particular keywords and then click the link posted from the search engine The landing page takes them straight

to the information specified by the keywords they’ve used to find you, without making them navigate to that information through your home page, which they might find too complicated to pursue

✓ E-mail blasts that let recipients download, say, a coupon and thereby

helps you start a relationship with them

✓ Social networking sites like Facebook that can be used to generate

interest in your business

This may all sound a little intimidating at this early stage, but take heart None of the tools and tactics are all that complicated by themselves The real trick — or art, if you want to get fancy about it — is deciding how to combine them to create the most effective (and cost-effective) advertising campaign for your

Despite what may at the moment seem like a lot of work on your end, try always to keep this in mind: Unlike many forms of traditional advertising meth-ods, online advertising is completely measurable in real (or near-real) time

That means you can find out almost instantly how well your efforts work, which parts perform better than others, what kind of customers you attract, and what specifically about your advertising catches their attention Best of all, because your online advertising is something you can alter on virtually a moment’s notice, you can change, refine, or otherwise tinker with it as soon as your measurements tell you what to do more of and what to leave behind

Going beyond search engines

Earlier in this chapter, we mention the three biggest and best-known search engines operating: Google, Yahoo!, and Bing Any (or all) of them can be a really cost-effective way to advertise locally and bring customers to your business who are looking actively for the kind of products and services you offer

Although your online efforts may well begin with the big three search engines, the marketing opportunities provided by the Internet certainly don’t end there In fact, those other opportunities are vast For instance, a lot of smaller, more localized search engines operate on the same principles as the three biggies but can offer greater efficiencies for your business And you can use non-search ways to reach potential customers, too We touch on e-mail (Chapter 10) and social-media marketing (Chapter 13), but you may also want

to explore the use of banner advertising (Chapter 12), online PR ties (Chapter 14), industry-specific directories (Chapter 11), and so on

opportuni-Each of these possible tactics has its own nuances and strengths, and you’re probably best off trying a variety of them to see which ones generate the best results for your company

Targeting the right prospects

Any business worth its salt has a lot of potential customers, but those tial customers aren’t all created equal What you want to find are those pros-pects who are the most motivated and ready to act, the most financially able

poten-to buy what you’re selling, and the most likely poten-to become long-term cuspoten-tom-ers And one of the great things about having lots of online options is that they let you directly zero in on the cream of the crop

custom-codes, towns, or cities or to location-specific key phrases (such as people living near the strip mine) Banner advertising lets you put your name and message on other people’s sites, sites that tend to attract the same kinds of customers you want to reach, demographically, by topic of interest, or by some other criterion important to you And those are just a couple options If you read on, match the profiles of your target prospects to the marketing tac-tics we discuss and see which promises to provide the best fit for your needs.

Turning clicks into new customers

Regardless of how you attract prospects to your Web site — via search, e-mail, banner ads, and so on — the real trick is getting them to take action when they’re there As the tacky expression goes, you’re after engagement, not just eyeballs!

For a local business, turning clicks into customers means using the online medium to close an offline sale Maybe your site lets them schedule a mas-sage with an online form, request a construction quote via a Live Chat fea-ture, or contact your limo service right from the Web page with a special tracking phone number The possibilities are pretty much endless

You discover everything you need to know to qualify prospects and convert them into customers in the chapters that follow

Taking an active role in optimizing results

In the days before online advertising, you had basically two ways to sure the effectiveness of the medium you were using: anecdotally or by pure hunch Hardly scientific, to say the least But online advertising lets you optimize your results You can measure how many people are coming from where, and what it is that’s tickling their fancy or leaving it woefully untick-led And then you can do something about it, now!

mea-Maybe you want to change a keyword or phrase, use different colors, put the elements on your site in a different order, or replace the picture of grandma with your dog Buster looking playful Whatever The point is that you can fine-tune your message (and your medium) until the cows come home — and see exactly which changes most benefit your return on investment (ROI)

Whether you do this or have outside professional help, optimizing results means taking a much more active role in your advertising than ever before

And being better and more quickly rewarded for it, too

Engaging Your Adver tising Ar senal

In This Chapter

▶ Getting found on local searches

▶ Taking advantage of direct navigation and social networks

▶ Combining offline and online tactics

▶ Using banner advertising

▶ Making the most of mobile search

▶ Combining various methods

Many years ago, a wise, old marketer lamented, “I know that half my advertising dollars are wasted — I just don’t know which half.”

And that was true enough then because major advertising media, such as newspaper, TV, and radio, were very hard to track You just couldn’t know who was reading, watching, or listening, or what sort of immediate effect your ads had You had to wait for sales figures to roll in, and even those usu-ally didn’t tell much about what in your ads moved the sales needle

Although technology has made tracking mass-media advertising somewhat easier and more precise — and although those media are still essential for many national brands — they remain something of a gray area as far as assessing their actual, immediate effects

Enter online advertising, which offers local businesses — and an increasing number of national ones — an extremely cost-efficient, trackable, and tweak-able way to reach customers The variety of communication techniques (or

tactics) available to an online advertiser means a local business can try

sev-eral tactical combinations and quickly determine which one works best

This chapter gives you an overview of the pros, cons, and unique istics of each of these online tactics so that you can put together an online advertising plan that will generate the biggest bang for your buck We explore many of the subjects here in greater detail later in this book, but this chapter

character-is a great starting point